Speedbowl notebook: Terry Eames confident over track's future

Eames once again is facing a threat of foreclosure, such as he did in 2008 when Rocco Arbitell and Peter Borelli bailed him out of a similar threat hours before Washington Mutual Trust was set to have a foreclosure sale. Now, it’s Arbitell and Borelli threatening the foreclosure as Eames owes them in excess of a million dollars.

Waterford Speedbowl owner-promotor and race director Terry Eames’ message in the driver’s meeting on Saturday was not one of rules and regulations.

“Don’t lose faith,” Eames said.

Eames once again is facing a threat of foreclosure, such as he did in 2008 when Rocco Arbitell and Peter Borelli bailed him out of a similar threat hours before Washington Mutual Trust was set to have a foreclosure sale. Now, it’s Arbitell and Borelli threatening the foreclosure as Eames owes them in excess of a million dollars.

No date has been set for a possible foreclosure sale by the court.

From comments in the pit area afterward, Eames succeeded in quelling fears.

“I have no doubt (that the Speedbowl will continue to function),” SK Modified Rob Janovic Jr., of Waterford, said. “The reason being is because of exactly what (Eames) said. I said the same thing years ago when people asked me if the place will open or go out of business. Every year, or it seems like it, Terry brings it to the 11th hour, pulls a rabbit out of his hat, the track runs for the entire season and then the rumors start up for the next year.

“I think that’s going to be a cycle that repeats itself until he’s an old man.”

What got Eames into trouble this time was that he failed to meet payments as promised in his bankruptcy reorganization plan, which the track only emerged from last year.

“Whether Mr. Eames can keep it alive or not, I feel that he can,” Gales Ferry SK Modified driver Todd Ceravolo said. “If he doesn’t, I think someone can come in here and take over from where he left off. I think as far as this year goes, I think he has it sealed up and I think we will be racing here until the end.

“I feel confident that he’s telling us from his heart that he will be here all year, and until we pull up to that gate and there’s double padlocks on it and we can’t come through, then I will say he lost his grip. Until then, it’s a fine facility. Things are going good and we have great competition here.”

Waiting

If things go astray, the Ceravolo family has discussed the possibility of purchasing the facility among themselves.

“I am very interested in it, but I want to do it where I can run it comfortably and have another partner in with me that doesn’t need his money and we can live off the interest (from money made by the track) and run a good track,” Dick Ceravolo said. “I don’t want to come in here and sweat to make money, steal from this one and that one. I want to do it so everyone gets paid every week.”

Page 2 of 3 - Dick Ceravolo is a former Speedbowl track champion who retired in 1988. The Groton resident climbed back into a car at age 71 last year to race in an SK Light Modified, which in his mind completed a long rehabilitation after he was severely injured in an accident at home two years before.

“I figure it this way. I don’t know how much longer I’m going to live, but I like racing, the kids like racing and when they get to the age where they are out of (the sport), they can be happy here, too,” Dick Ceravolo said. “Don’t get me wrong, this is not an easy thing to do. What (Eames) does out here is not something just a couple of people can do. It’s not something where you just open it up and go home. There’s a lot to do.

“Maybe I am wasting my money, but you know what, when this game (life) is all over with, you aren’t going to have any money any way.”

Demolition derby

Ryan Morgan was pleased with one thing on Saturday night: He walked away from his wrecked No. 3 Late Model.

“All I saw was (Keith) Rocco’s rear end and then I was spinning around. That’s all I remember,” Morgan said. “Truthfully, it wasn’t that scary after last year. I’m thankful I can walk, that I’m standing here and not in the ambulance going to the hospital.”

Morgan has participated in six Late Model races at Waterford after graduating from the Legends Division. But in three of those races, the Mystic driver has gone home with a hardly recognizable car. Last year, his throttle stuck going into turn three and he hit the wall with such ferocity that the sway bar came through the firewall and busted up not only the car but himself.

“That was in race No. 2,” Morgan said, “and that was pretty much my whole season and this could be a replay of last year.”

The driver’s side of Morgan’s car had a large hole in it where the No. 77 car of Richard Duranti had hit him while he spun.

Morgan wasn’t the only one looking at a wrecked car in the pits. Rocco’s No. 1 car, which had been a winner the last two weeks, left the track hoisted up by two wreckers.

“The five car (Richard Staskowski) hooked me in the right rear quarter-panel and sent me into the fence. You can see the tire mark right there,” Rocco said, pointing to the rubber left on his car. “There’s 12 cars here, there’s no reason for that. If that’s the only way to beat us, stay home.”

Page 3 of 3 - The eventual winner of the race, Old Lyme’s Jeff Smith, said the division has got some issues.

“Last year was aggressive and it seems even more aggressive this year,” Smith said. “You’re seeing a lot more cars torn up a lot faster. ... We’re losing cars, which is always a bad thing to happen. We all want to come out on the track, race each other, and hopefully come off the track in one piece.”